Rewired, antique radios undigitize MP3s

Here is an example of one of the hundreds of new, antique radios available from Brooklyn, N.Y-based company 3ryan (Photo courtesy of 3ryan.)

WASHINGTON — With all the gadgets available today, it might be nice this holiday season to take a new look at something old.

That’s what 3ryan had in mind when it introduced its new line of antique radios, which combine the classic old-fashioned look with today’s technology.

Antique Tube Radios are modified with iPod docking stations and improved sound quality. But the catch here is that they’re actually old, rewired radios — not new radios designed to look old, which is so commonplace these days.

The company, which deals mainly through privatized sales and word-of-mouth marketing, has taken original radios made in the 1920s through the 1960s, disassembled them, cleaned them and then rewired them with today’s technological components.

The company says it then “undigitizes” the MP3s, “breaking the binary code into an analogue frequency for a warmer, vinyl-esque sound,” according to the company’s website.

With all that work, it’s no wonder these radios aren’t cheap. They range from about $310 to $600 each.